No worries Patricia, we will most likely be here for another couple of weeks waiting for couriered post to arrive. Still sitting out blow after blow! Have never seen weather like this here especially at this time of year! Craziness! Certainly won't get much painting done with all the bouncing about. But.... we do have a little bit of sunshine today between the fronts!

Lovely to hear from you Val, I was wondering what had happened to you because things were quiet on your front. We too, are having awful weather here in Canada. It has snowed all day and darned cold. The weather world-wide seems to be going crazy!!

Patricia

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PatriciaBlessed are those who give without remembering and blessed are those who receive without forgetting - anonymous

No worries Patricia, we will most likely be here for another couple of weeks waiting for couriered post to arrive. Still sitting out blow after blow! Have never seen weather like this here especially at this time of year! Craziness! Certainly won't get much painting done with all the bouncing about. But.... we do have a little bit of sunshine today between the fronts!

An item I wasn't aware of. I was aware of the effects; but not the label of no to a couple hours of 'lay down' time (too exhausted to sleep as odd as that sounds) which can continue for eight weeks, or more, while at sea.

It could also apply to other branches of service, but those folks would have to 'chime in'.

The documentary was on the loss of 16,000 men in 9 A.C.E., (three Roman Legions) to the tribes in Germany (Germania). An American Lt. General indicated that people who've had no sleep in 24 hours are legally drunk. The Roman soldiers had been awake and fighting for over Two days.

So we were legally drunk for eight weeks (however long you were at sea). Rather doubt this was quantified until many many years after I left the USN.

I understand that completely Stoney. I am one of those people who sleep very little and often even less. This is one of the reasons we no longer do any long distance sailing. I am well aware of when it is no longer safe to trust my judgement, not something you want when alone on watch out at sea... or close to shore actually. The mind can play some very dangerous tricks.

I understand that completely Stoney. I am one of those people who sleep very little and often even less. This is one of the reasons we no longer do any long distance sailing. I am well aware of when it is no longer safe to trust my judgement, not something you want when alone on watch out at sea... or close to shore actually. The mind can play some very dangerous tricks.

Yep. Confusion, data drop-out, forgetfulness, dexterity and balance problems, among myriad other things. The dept. head and the two E-6's were exempt from standing watches and the like. We all understood why.

In an emergency situation, someone's got to have a clear head. You might not be able to think clearly, but you can still follow directions. The 'hands' of the 'brain'.

On top of everything else, you've got to take care of things that break. While at sea, you can't do training and us Electrician's we worked all over the ship.

We were always fighting with the Electrician Chief. He wanted us to go around replacing light bulbs! He couldn't understand if we did that we'd not be able to maintain the systems that make the ship run. We worked all over the ship.

During an 8.5 month Med Cruise there were only two places we could shut off generators and do maintenance. At the back of the turbines was a cover over the rear bearings. 5/8th inch bolts (4 of them) secured the journal holding the bearings in place.

I was able to lift at least two of them out with my fingers! I tightened them back down. If they had come loose and things bounced around; I've no idea how many people would have been killed by a flying turbine breaking apart and how many months the ship would have been out of commission.

The cheapest maintenance is preventive, as a car owner knows. It's much cheaper to change your oil and filter at regular intervals than to have an engine rebuilt or replaced.

Our emergency diesel generating systems were junk. No idea why they weren't rebuilt in the shipyard during the refit just before I came aboard.

Replacement would have involved burning big holes in the deck and a few bulkheads.